Preseason Tourism up 62% in Croatia

Many will remember the Easter holiday period in Croatia for long queues at border crossings.

Many motorists had to wait up to 4 hours crossing the Slovenia-Croatia border as they arrived to spend Easter holidaying in Croatia.

New strict controls at border crossings, which means all passengers must now have their passport or document scanned three times, added minutes onto the processing of vehicles and was one of the main factors for the long waits.

There have been delays at border crossings

There was another reason, however. According to Croatia’s Minister of Tourism Gari Cappelli, arrivals into Croatia over the Easter period was a massive 65% up from the same period last year. Overnight stays, a key measure in tourism, were also up 95%.

The great start to the pre-season is a good indicator that 2017 could beat the record set in 2016 when 16.6 million tourists visited Croatia.

Rovinj in Istria popular over Easter (photo: Rovinj Tourist Board)

In terms of the strict controls at the border, which are an EU directive, Cappelli is optimistic that a sensible solution will be made to free up the long queues.

“We have to understand that these days have recorded 62% more arrivals and 95% more overnight stays compared to the same period last year, so considering that the traffic is somewhat understandable”, he told HRT.

Istria, due to its location, is a popular destination over the Easter holiday period for Europeans and this Easter the region welcomed 33% more arrivals than during Easter 2016.

Dubrovnik (photo credit: Bracodbk under CC)

There was growth (17% more overnight stays) recorded in Dubrovnik where 11,800 tourists arrived for Easter. Most had arrived from Spain, the UK, USA, Germany, Austria, France, Israel, Greece, Croatia, and Finland.